Leadership Reports

President’s Report

#RedforEd: A labor victory in Arizona

The power of solidarity was on display for everyone to see as the teachers of Arizona stood together to demand justice. Our union, UFCW Local 99, stood with them.

Across the state, teachers wore red and took to the streets to seek better pay and adequate funding for their mission to educate our youth.

The great Arizona teacher’s strike ended just before dawn on May 3, when the state legislature passed, and Gov. Doug Ducey quickly approved, a much-needed 20% funding increase. They also agreed to invest an additional $138 million into Arizona’s public schools.

“We will return to our schools, classrooms and students knowing that we have achieved something truly historic,” Arizona Education Association President Joe Thomas and National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García said in a joint statement

Secretary-Treasurer’s Report

How you can respond to anti-union myths

June 14, 2018

While anti-union groups across the country often present themselves as “pro-worker,” they are really front organizations backed by enormously wealthy individuals and companies.

They think it’s okay for wealthy folks to band together as corporations and trade groups, while regular working people should be kept weak and divided, without strong unions to represent their interests.

They are committed to making sure that workers’ voices are silenced. They want employees to accept whatever is handed to them without complaint.

To advance their anti-worker agenda, these groups promote certain myths that are pushed by their sponsored media outlets. As a result, many of these falsehoods are accepted without question by large numbers of Americans who should know better.